Useful and medicinal properties of medicinal sage
salvia officinalis l.
Family Gubotic( Lunar) - Lamiaceae
The generic name comes from the Latin sal-vus - healthy, since the plant is medicinal. Specific definition - "pharmacy" indicates the same.
Botanical Description. Semishrub with woody roots. The stems are somewhat branched, with a height of 20-50 cm. The lower ones are woody, the upper ones are herbaceous tetrahedral. Leaves cross opposite, petiolate, young - white. The flowers are blue-violet, collected 6-10 times in false whorls,
forming apical racemose inflorescences. Pedicels short. The calyx is bidentate, with five prongs, pubescent. Corolla two-lipped. Unlike other labial stamens 2, hidden under the upper lip. Pestle with upper four-bladed ovary. Fruit - fractional, consists of four nuts.
Blossoms in June - July. Fruits ripen in September.
Geographical distribution. In our country is not found, in the wild growing in the Mediterranean. Cultivated in state farm medicinal plants, cultivated on an area of 450-600 hectares in Ukraine, in Moldova, Krasnodar Territory. Plantations use 4-6 years, after which they plow. Old plants do not hibernate well, and the crops are gradually thinned. To slow down the "aging", in spring the plants are mowed half the length of the stem, which increases the bushiness.
Propagated by seeds. They are sown in early spring or late autumn with a wide-row method with 60 cm widths.
Collection and drying. The collection of raw materials is mechanized. During the summer several tops of shoots length 13-15 cm are cut by harvesters or harvesters, dried in dryers at a temperature of 30-40 °.When plants lose 50-60% moisture, the temperature is raised to 50-60 °.After drying, the plants are threshed, discarding the stems. Seeds are harvested from unsweetened plants.
Medicinal raw materials. .. Finished raw materials - a leaf of a sage( Folium Salviae) consists of petiolate, oblong-lanceolate leaves with blunted apex. At the base of the leaf blade there are sometimes one or two oblong, small blades. Edge of leaf shallow. The largest leaves are 6-10 cm long, 2-2.5 cm wide. The surface is evenly wrinkled with a mesh venation. Color grayish green;old leaves are green, and young ones are silvery-white.
Smell fragrant, taste bitterish-spicy, astringent.
Art.282 GFH and GOST 6715-57 allow: moisture not more than 14%;ash not more than 12%;blackened and browned leaves not more than 5%;other parts of sage not more than 10%;crushed parts passing through a sieve with a hole diameter of 3 mm, not more than 3%;
of an organic impurity not more than 0.5%;Mineral impurities not more than 0.5%;the content of essential oil is not less than 1%.
Chemical composition. The sage leaf contains up to 2.5% essential oil, 4% condensed tannins, ursolic and oleanolic acids, diterpenes, bitter substances, 5-6% resinous substances, flavonoids, coumarin esculetin, etc.
Essential oil contains up to 15%cineole, 30-50% thujone and thujol, pinene, salven, borneol, camphor, sesquiterpene zeprene and other terpenoids.
Action and application. Cineole essential oil has bactericidal properties, with which the phytoncidal properties of the plant are associated. Tannins exhibit astringent action, and flavonoids are choleretic.
Infusion of 20 grams of raw material per 200 ml of water 2-3 tablespoons 3 times a day is prescribed for night sweats, to reduce the formation of milk in nursing mothers, with bronchitis, gastric and intestinal inflammation, diarrhea, flatulence, inflammation of the liver and biliarythe bubble. Contraindicated in inflammation of the kidneys and a strong cough.
The same infusion is used for rinsing with inflammatory processes of the oral cavity and throat, tonsillitis, catarrh of the upper respiratory tract.